Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 375 of 619

Tucker showed Marcus the first suite himself. Ajax had left it to him. Marcus was the captain hired to sail Black Oak's goods north across eight days of open sea, and Tucker ran the port and the bar. The room held a wide bed, a sea-view window, and a small hearth already lit. Marcus stepped past Tucker and set a hand on the bedpost. He looked at the water, then at Tucker in the doorway. "Best room I've had in years," Marcus said. He did not look at the room when he said it. Tucker leaned on the frame. Gold caught the light on his wrist. "It's the view," he said. "Costs extra." "I'd pay for the company," Marcus said. He crossed back toward the door slow, holding Tucker's eye. "You settling me in, or just pointing at the bed?" Tucker smiled but stayed where he was. He knew how to make a man lean in and then stop. He had done it at a hundred bars. "Three days is a long time," Tucker said. "No sense spending it all in one night." Marcus stopped a step short of him. He was tall and steady, a man who stated things flat and let them sit. "I sail in three days," he said. "Eight days out, eight back. That's a long time to think about what I left." "Then think about it," Tucker said. He did not move aside. "More reason to come back." Marcus studied him. He was hard to read at a dock, but here he showed everything. Interest, and no shame in it. "You holding out," he said. "Why?" Tucker gave him the truth, plain, the way he gave everything. "You’re used to getting what you want." He tapped the doorframe once. "You want it, you sail north and you come home for it. That's the deal." Marcus laughed, short and low. He understood a bargain when he heard one. "Ajax put you up to this?" "Ajax doesn't need to," Tucker said. Marcus set his hand on the door above Tucker's head. For a moment neither moved. Then Tucker ducked under his arm and stepped into the hall. "Rest," Tucker said. "Eat. I'll bring your supper myself." He looked back once, letting it warm. "After you sail north and come home, we’ll talk." He pulled the door shut and left Marcus alone with the window and the empty bed. Below, Ajax waited at the bar. Tucker came down and gave a short nod. The captain wanted more than he'd been given, and now he had a reason to hurry home. The last thread was set. In three days Ajax's ship would sail north with a man pulling hard to return.